His is not the only case of the living dead. Lal Behari was cheated by scheming relatives by declaring him dead to grab his property. An illiterate and callow boy of 15 then, he came to know of his `death' only after several years.

He said several others, mostly illiterate widows and others are also put in a similar predicament by their own relatives or fellow villagers for the same reason.

Lal Behari, 40, a resident of Mubarakpur in Azamgarh district, said he came to know of his `death' in July 1976 when a chance checking of the land records revealed that his land and property was registered in the names of his relatives because he was no more.

Hecame to realise the gravity of the situation after running from one office to another to announce that he was alive but no one believed him. At one stage, whenever asked to put down his name in full, he was forced to write as `the late Lal Behari'.

Lal Behari said, finally, it was the efforts of the then district magistrate of Azamgarh H P Srivastava, that brought him back from the world of the dead in 1994.

He claimed that the rural areas of the state were full of such instances where the properties were transferred by showing the real owners as deceased. Since most of the victims were unaware of the legal procedures and the intricate rules regarding property transfer at revenue offices and courts, they never got redressal at any fora.

Lal Behari said he was constituting an organisation of the `proclaimed dead' to ensure that they got justice. Despite all the hardships he had to undergo during the years as the `deceased', he continued to remain a law-abiding citizen. He admitted that the lure oftaking up criminal activities to avenge himself did creep into his mind, but his abiding faith in law prevented him from doing so.

``I knew that the law cannot punish a dead person, but then I believed the law would provide me justice'', he added.